Bread went from being a major part of our ancestors’ food intake to being a very small part of the food we eat today. Heavy, rich, and nutritious bread was once a daily staple; today commercial “industrialized” bread is produced in fully automated factories and is full of chemical additives and preservatives, too much salt, and has too little nutritive value. What went wrong? Read more:How Did Our Daily Bread Go Wrong?

Most of the millions living in the Pacific Northwest forget that the drylands of eastern Washington and Oregon on the west of the Rocky Mountains and Montana to the east are also part of the nation’s “bread basket.” They’ve been raised to think that wheat comes from Kansas. The truth is that eastern Washington and Oregon, and central and eastern Montana produce millions of bushels of wheat, most of which is sold by the train carload to one of just a handful of huge commercial flour mills or is exported. Read more:Growing Local: Grain, Flour, Bread

We all imagine that the beef we eat came from a cow living a happy-go-lucky life, frolicking on lush green pastures until a gentle and painless end. Obviously the average American does NOT want to meet their dinner while he/she is still standing. However, the idea that you could, if you wanted, meet the farmer who raised your dinner, is not so far fetched. Read more:Where’s your beef … from?

Enclosed by surrounding mountain ranges, where black cattle and white sheep graze in sunshine filtered through a slight haze of wildfire smoke, a community comes together to concentrate on healthy animals, healthy soil, and healthy families. Read more:It takes a community to raise healthy sheep!

When one of the world’s experts on soil health and land resilience (from Auckland, NZ, a 9,500 mile trek) is scheduled to lead a day-long workshop just 170 miles away, you do everything you can to be there! Read more:A Soil Crawl in Big Timber, Montana

The problem of agriculture is as old as civilization. Throughout history, great societies that abused their land withered into poverty or disappeared entirely. Now we risk repeating this ancient story on a global scale due to ongoing soil degradation, a changing climate, and a rising population. But there is reason for hope. David R. Montgomery introduces us to farmers around the world at the heart of a brewing soil health revolution that could bring humanity’s ailing soil back to life remarkably fast. Read more:Growing a Revolution: Bringing our Soil Back to Life, David R. Montgomery

Agroecology is our best option for creating an agrifood system capable of nurturing people, societies, and the planet. But it is still not widespread. Fertile Ground, edited by Steve Brescia, offers nine case studies that demonstrate how the endogenous practice of agroecology can be “scaled” so that it is known by more farmers, practiced more deeply, and integrated in planning and policy. Read more:Fertile Ground: Scaling Agroecology from the Ground Up by Steven Brescia, Editor